A Dash of Chlorine
by bow-to-my-tie
Summary: Rose Tyler has a few ideas of what to expect when she walks into her first day of work as a lifeguard at the elegant Gallifrey Swim Club. However, meeting a mysterious lifeguard who goes only by the name "The Doctor" definitely wasn't on her list of expectations. With sparks flying, can she and the Doctor keep their relationship strictly professional? Lifeguard Ten/Rose AU
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hi guys! I'm working on a few long AU stories right now, so I wanted to put out the first chapter to something else so that I could have a few options of what to work on. Hopefully you enjoy this first chapter!

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A deep breath in, a deep breath out.

And again, and again, and again.

Rose Tyler placed both of her hands on the ornate, mahogany wooden door in front of her and focused on her breaths, one after the other. Surely she could do this. She had been swimming since she was a small child, and, sure, she had never done it as a sport, but she_ was_ extremely good at it.

She loved the feeling of the water engulfing her, draining away all her feelings and relaxing her - mentally and physically.

She had never been nervous for a job before, but for some reason, standing outside the Gallifrey Swim Club for her first day of work as a lifeguard left her trembling like a puppy during a thunderstorm. Rose glanced behind her, to make sure nobody saw her while she was in this pathetic state.

Her mind was racing and her eyes lowered to the golden watch on her wrist. She was ten minutes early. Was that too early? No, surely it wasn't too early. Rose closed her eyes and, after one more deep breath, pushed open the door with one hand, stepping inside.

She had been in the room itself several times, since she had been a member of the pool long before she had even applied for the job. Occasionally she would visit the pool with her friend Clara Oswald, but that was about the extent of her visits.

The room had a soft, dark orange carpet and brown walls. The color theme extended throughout the entire swim club, and Rose found the colors strangely relaxing. Her lifeguard uniform felt uncomfortable as she approached the counter for the first time since she had put it on. She fidgeted with her cover-up, a sheer, white dress, and smiled at the woman behind the desk.

"Hello, I'm Rose Tyler. I'm here for my first day as a lifeguard," Rose explained politely.

"I'm Amy Pond," the woman replied with a heavy Scottish accent. She was stunningly beautiful, with long red hair that matched the swimsuit she was wearing. It was the same one Rose had on. "Who was your physical trainer?"

"Her name was Martha Jones. I completed training yesterday."

Amy grinned, "How was it?"

Rose shrugged, "Pretty difficult if I'm honest. But I think I did rather well."

"Considering you're here today, I suppose you did rather well," Amy mused. "I'll ring Martha for you, and she'll be here in just a minute. You can sit anywhere."

Rose nodded her thanks and turned around, walking towards a brown couch with cream-colored pillows scattered across it. The moment she sat down, the door opened and a man walked in. Rose felt her mouth involuntarily fall open a small bit as her eyes raked him up and down.

His hair was spiked up messily, and water was still dripping from it and onto the orange carpet below. It was chestnut brown, and his right hand came up to shake it out. He had red swim trunks on, but no shirt. His back was lean and muscular, though he was very skinny.

The man approached the counter and Rose caught his face for the first time. He looked older than her, but still young. She couldn't quite tell his age, really. Perhaps her mind was too occupied by the freckles scattered across his face that made him seem all the more handsome. His mouth twisted into a grin as he spoke enthusiastically to Amy about god knows what.

Then, after laughing at something Amy had said, he turned to see Rose sitting on the couch. Damn, was he handsome. Rose was sure she hadn't seen him before; after all, she thought she would have noticed a face like that at orientation. Chest hair was spattered across his torso.

Martha Jones entered the room from behind the counter, and Rose stood up, blushing a little – to her despair - under the intense gaze of the handsome man. As she approached the counter, he extended his hand to her. "Hello," he said in a deep tone, giving her a debonair smile.

Her cheeks turned an even brighter pink and she could not believe the effect he was having on her. It was as if she was fifteen again. She shook his still wet hand firmly and grinned, "Hello, Rose Tyler."

"The Doctor," he replied nonchalantly.

"Doctor Who?" Rose asked immediately, on instinct.

He shrugged, burying his right hand that he had shaken hers with back in the pocket of his red swim trunks. "Just the Doctor. That's what people call me, anyways. Guessing you're new here?"

Rose nodded quickly, "Lifeguard. First day."

The Doctor rocked back on his heels and grinned, "Welcome. Guess I'll see you around, Rose Tyler." He pronounced her name strangely, as if testing the words on his tongue.

"Yeah," she replied, embarrassingly breathless. "See you around."

The Doctor sauntered out of the room and she heard the door shut behind him. Rose turned, still a little dumbstruck, to Martha and Amy. "You'll be with me, Rose," Martha said gently.

During training, Martha had become a fairly good friend of hers. She had dark skin and dark hair tied back into a messy bun, and she was also clad in her swimsuit and some black flip-flops. "Great," Rose replied.

As soon as they had gone out the back entrance and were walking through the bathroom that connected the main room to the pool, Martha turned to her and stopped. "So I saw you met the Doctor."

Rose was confused as to why they had stopped walking. "Yeah, I did. He seemed like a nice bloke."

"Cute?" Martha asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rose ducked her head. "Yeah, just a bit."

"Well," Martha advised, "I'd just like to warn you now, you might want to get over those feelings. He's flirted with every girl here. Never gotten with a single one of them. He's impossible."

Looking up from her feet, she stared at Martha. "Really? He leads girls on?"

"No, no, he's a nice guy," Martha explained. "He literally doesn't even know he's doing it, he's totally clueless. It's like, a personality thing. He's naturally flirty, you know?"

Rose nodded understandingly. "Well I won't let it distract me from my work," she assured her. "He's not my type anyways."

"Good," Martha nodded. "Anyways, let's get you started. You did a great job at the physical training, but most people say that learning the actual job can be harder."

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**A/N:** Please be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think! Should I continue?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the first chapter of this story! This entire story probably won't end up too long, but who knows? Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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It took Martha about two hours to give Rose the grand tour of the pool (which wasn't totally necessary, of course, since Rose had been there several times, but it was mandatory) and explain the duties of the job. Before, at training, Martha had made sure that Rose was fit for the job and knew all of the basics. She knew the rules of the pool and how to save people, and how to always pay attention to the pool, even when there were only a few people inside it.

Rose was listening intently, of course, but she still did keep an eye out for the mysterious Doctor around the pool. She hadn't caught sight of him yet, and she thought perhaps that his shift had ended when she had seen him earlier. Silently, she was praying that that wasn't true, since she would have liked to have his shift around the same time as hers.

It wasn't even his attractiveness that made her so enthusiastic to see him again in the future, no, it was his mysteriousness. What was his real name? Did he tell everyone he was the Doctor, or was it his natural flirtatiousness? Then again, the attractiveness definitely wasn't negatively affecting her curiosity.

Martha clapped Rose on the back happily. "I think you're ready to get started. Can you cover chair four?"

Rose nodded and went to sit in the chair. The Gallifrey Swim Club pools could only be described with one word: elegant. The grounds were organized into several sections. There was the main building, where Amy worked, which sat in the very front of all the pools. The main entrance was right next to it, and led into the main pool.

The main pool was huge and surrounded by smooth, clean, white and orange tiles. Reclining chairs were on two of the four sides of the rectangular pool, and the other two sides had tables with orange umbrellas and brown, wooden chairs. The water was a beautiful and clear light blue color.

There was a children's pool to the right of the main one, which was separated by an iron fence with a gate built into it. The children's pool was normally for parents who wanted to swim without their children needing constant attention, since the lifeguards there would look after them.

Another pool was on the left, and it was called the exercise pool by lifeguards, but the workout pool by members. It was mainly for swimming laps, and there was a strict no messing-around rule there. Those wanting to get into shape would use that and the gym building that was next to it.

There were seven lifeguard chairs, two at children's and exercise pools, and three at the main pool. Each chair was granted a number so that the lifeguards could communicate easily, and know which chairs were filled and which weren't.

Rose approached chair number four, which was on the far end of the main pool, and sat down in it. The pool wasn't exceptionally busy at eleven in the morning, but there was still a fair amount of people there. The main crowd was young adults and teenagers, but from her chair she could see a few children in the child's pool, and two elderly men in the exercise pool.

But no Doctor.

Suddenly, there was a tapping noise coming from beneath her that almost caused her to fall out of her seat. Her eyes flickered down and landed upon the mysterious man she had met earlier. "Hello," he said, mouth breaking out into a debonair smile.

"Hello," she replied joyfully, before composing herself. "We're not supposed to talk to people while on duty."

"Suppose we'll just have to talk when you're off duty, then," the Doctor replied, shrugging. "When's your lunch break?"

"Martha said at two," Rose replied, swallowing. Martha had said that this man led people on… But surely he didn't take every new girl out to lunch on her first day?

"Mine's at two, every day. And I work from ten to six. Mondays through Saturdays." He leaned up against one of the long metal rods that supported the chair.

She wasn't sure why he was giving her his work schedule, but she just nodded, embarrassingly dumbstruck, and stared at him. Rose hadn't gotten the best look at him before, but now that she was staring at him, face-to-face, she realized he was even more attractive than she had thought.

Even though most of the water previously coating him had drip-dried, there were still a few droplets in his hair. He ran his hand through his long brown locks self-consciously, and she realized she had been staring. "So you want to eat lunch together?" she asked, stupidly.

"Thought I made that fairly obvious," he said cheekily with a wink. "See you at two, Rose Tyler. Looking forward to it."

She wanted to ask where they would be eating and, well, why he would want to eat with_ her,_ but before she could the Doctor walked away from her chair and towards the children's pool. He sat in chair number seven. As soon as he sat down, he met her gaze and she could have sworn she saw his tongue dart out to lick his lips. Or it was just her fantasy-indulged mind playing tricks on her.

Rose focused her eyes back on the pool, not wanting to mess up her first day on the job. She heard the Doctor yell at some kids for sprinting along the side of the pool, and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her. She didn't look at him, though.

When the clock struck twelve thirty, she was given a short break to go and stretch out her limbs in the staff room, which was behind the counter of the main room. Apparently the Doctor's schedule coincided with hers, because she saw him getting off of his chair too and sauntering off to god-knows-where.

In the staff room, she was introduced to a few of the other lifeguards. There were seven lifeguards in total at the Gallifrey Swim Club, but normally there were only - at the most - five people working chairs at once.

"Rory Williams," a handsome man extended his hand politely and Rose shook it.

"Rose Tyler, nice to meet you," she replied.

Next she was introduced to Donna Noble, who, according to Martha, was the Doctor's best friend. She seemed older than most of the other lifeguards there, but just as friendly. Donna had a rather spicy personality, but Rose liked her spirit.

"Thanks for taking my chair while I was on break," Rose said with a shy smile to Amy, who was lowering herself from the chair. "Also, do you know how long the lunch breaks are here?

"Forty-five minutes," Amy replied, running a hand through her tangled hair.

Rose's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Blimey, that's great."

"Yeah, it's perfect," Amy agreed. "Do you have plans for lunch? My break is at two forty-five."

"Oh, mine's at two," Rose said apologetically. "I'm actually going out to lunch with the Doctor. He invited me."

Amy's mouth opened, then closed, as if she was going to say something but then thought better of it. "Hope you have fun," she settled on saying after an awkward silence, and then she sauntered off, red hair flowing behind her.

Rose frowned, deep in thought as she sat on the chair. Why was Amy so shocked that she was having lunch with him? Surely he couldn't be all that bad. Her mind flashed back to what Martha had said about him flirting and leading girls on. Surely she could handle it and just be friends with him, despite his… She swallowed, a pink blush warming her cheeks. Appearance.

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**A/N:** Ooo what will happen on their lunch date? Tell me what you think in the reviews! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** This chapter is mostly just dialogue. But you get to know the Doctor better and Rose as well. :) Hope you enjoy!

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When the clock finally struck two, Rose hopped down from her chair and half-ran half-walked towards the main building. She saw the Doctor inside and gave him a wide smile, sticking her tongue in between her teeth just the tiniest bit out of habit. He returned the grin and she quickly began pulling on her cover up - a light blue blouse and black leggings. When he walked out of the building with her wearing only shorts and no shorts, she frowned. "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Aren't you going to put a shirt on?" Rose raised one eyebrow, looking at his chest pointedly.

He laughed and extended his hand, wiggling her fingers. Rose grabbed it instinctively, marveling at the way they fit together perfectly. And this entire thing was so weird. She didn't even know this man's name and here he was, holding her hand and taking her out to lunch without wearing a shirt. "Trust me," he said, "I'll be fine. Don't even bother bringing a cover up these days."

They walked hand in hand down the street, him getting surprisingly few surprised looks at his indecency. Perhaps it was the fact that his shorts were still wet, or the fact that it was obviously a lifeguard uniform. Or maybe these people just saw him do this every day. "So where are we going?" Rose asked after they had walked for a good five minutes.

"My father's chip shop, hope that's okay," he replied, looking at her with something she couldn't quite name. Was it... Concern? Some weird sort of hope?

Rose squeezed his hand happily, starting to walk closer to him and grinning. "Chips are my favorite."

He seemed pleased by this and she noted that the smile didn't leave his face until they entered a small restaurant. An elderly man was at the counter, grinning brightly at the Doctor. "Doctor!" the man said happily, stepping around the counter to greet them. Then, he extended his hand to Rose. "Wilfred Mott."

Rose grinned brightly and shook Wilfred's hand. "Rose Tyler, pleasure to meet you."

Wilfred then turned his gaze to the Doctor and gave him a pointed look - one that was meant to show anger but didn't really contain any at all. "What have I told you about coming to my shop without a shirt? Sets off a bad image for the restaurant."

The Doctor waggled his eyebrows playfully, "I'd say it sets off a very good image for the restaurant."

Wilfred simply rolled his eyes and nodded towards a table, "You can sit over there. You know the drill."

Rose and the Doctor sat down across from each other and Rose would be damned if this wasn't a date. She toyed with the straw in the complimentary water she had been given. "So that's your father?"

"Yup," he replied, popping the 'p'.

They ordered their food and Rose bombarded him with more questions. She couldn't help it, she was just a naturally curious person. "So what's your real name?"

He grinned, as if expecting this question. "John. John Noble." To Rose's surprise, he extended his hand and she shook it with a small, playful smile. "Nice to meet you, Rose Tyler."

"Wait," Rose said, blinking. "Noble. Isn't that Donna's last name?"

The Doctor blushed, looking down at his drink. "It is," he confirmed. "She's my older sister, actually. We don't really brag about that, though."

"Oh, for a while I thought you two were... Well... You know..." Rose's voice trailed off at his blank, confused expression.

After a moment, he gasped. "Together? Donna and I? God no... That's disgusting!" he said in horror, though he was smiling all the same.

Rose laughed at him. "Well that's good."

His smile shrunk to a smaller one, one that made it him seem like he knew something she didn't. There was a sort of sparkle in his eyes, causing him to look like a cheetah chasing a doe. "Is it good?"

Her mouth set in a firm line and she made a point of looking him up and down, her eyes lingering at his still bare chest that was half visible over the table. Rose nodded once. "It is good."

"And are you with anyone?" he began toying with the straw in his drink, mimicking her earlier action and darting his eyes away from hers.

The food arrived. "I'm not," Rose confirmed. "Well there was a bloke... It didn't end well?"

"What happened?" the Doctor blurted out quickly, and then he scooted back into the booth and swallowed. "Sorry, I-"

"It's fine," Rose assured him. "He was a jerk. He cheated on me without caring. Smoked, drank, did drugs, the like. Dropped out of high school for him, never got my A levels. He's in prison now, I hear. Something with drugs."

He nodded slowly, soaking in the information. "That's good. Not that you dropped out of high school, I mean, but that he's in prison. Sounds like he deserved it."

She plopped a chip into her mouth and hummed in delight. "This is delicious. Your father owns this entire place?"

The Doctor nodded, obviously content with the topic change. "Yeah. Donna and I help him out here sometimes. He's been working here for a good nineteen years now, I believe."

Rose looked around in disbelief. "Nineteen years?! This place looks brand new!"

He shrugged. "Switched locations about two years back. He keeps it clean, though. This place is practically his life." There was a moment of silence. "So, Rose Tyler," he rolled the 'r's in her name, a habit of his that she was beginning to absolutely adore. "Tell me more about you."

"Not much to know," Rose replied, blushing a little under his gaze. "Was born and raised here in London. Dropped out of high school, you know that bit. Used to work at a shop called Henriks..."

"The place that blew up?!" he gasped, eyes widening.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, so that explains why I quit that place..."

"I was there!" the Doctor exclaimed with the smile of a maniac.

She blinked. "When it blew up? But nobody was inside."

"You know Jack Harkness? He worked there."

Yeah, she did know Jack. He was flirtatious and cockier than any other man she had ever met. The nice kind of confidence, though, not the shove-it-in-your-face kind. She had rather liked him, despite denying his advances. He just wasn't her type. Then, she frowned. If Jack wasn't her type, why was the Doctor? Wait, no, she was going to keep her relationship with the Doctor strictly professional. That was already decided. They would just be friends. "I know him," Rose eventually settled on saying.

The Doctor swallowed, tugging at his ear with his right hand. Must be a nervous habit, Rose noted. "I was going to him for some... Er... Advice. Thought he might still be in the shop. I went inside, looked around a bit for him. I, er, saw the bomb."

Rose gasped, "You what?! The bomb? Oh my god, you're kidding."

He shook his head. "Nope. It had about two minutes left on the detonation. Figured it wasn't enough time to alert the police, and nobody else was in the building. So I just booked it."

"You're mad," Rose said in disbelief, shaking her head in astonishment. "Absolutely mad."

The Doctor grinned at her, as if to confirm that. "That's me! Anyways, I booked it out of there. Never told anyone about it."

"Except me?"

"Except you."


End file.
